UFC 155's Belcher on Okami rematch: 'He was just better' in first fight

Alan Belcher wasn’t necessarily pining for a rematch with Yushin Okami, but in his current position, he said the fight obviously made sense.

More than six years ago, Belcher made his promotional debut and took a short-notice opportunity against Okami at UFC 62, which resulted in one of the few losses of his UFC career.

Now set to rematch the Japanese fighter on Saturday at UFC 155, Belcher is focused more on his continue ascent in the UFC’s crowded middleweight title picture and less on the supposed avenging of that unanimous-decision defeat.

“I didn’t think of it at all as wanting to get the rematch,” Belcher told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “I took that (first) fight on short notice, I was really inexperienced, and I killed myself to make weight in that fight. I just didn’t do things right. I basically starved myself.

“Not to make a list of excuses, but everything was wrong. And then on top of everything, he was just better, he was more experienced than me, and he was a better grappler. I tried hard, but I just wasn’t on that level.”

Belcher was a bit surprised by the rematch since it wasn’t exactly one that he, Okami or fans clamored for. But Belcher finds himself in a unique position. He’s won four straight fights and six of his past seven, and the lone defeat came via questionable split decision to Yoshihiro Akiyama in 2009. He’s 2-0 since a 16-month injury layoff with first-round stoppages of Jason MacDonald and Rousimar Palhares.

So, he encountered a problem many other top contenders face: Few people wanted to fight him. Belcher said fellow contender Michael Bisping turned down a fight, as did “a couple other” highly ranked 185-pounders.

“But those fights will have to happen soon, so I took the Yushin fight, and I trained my ass off for it, and I’m feeling pretty good,” he said.

Belcher said the most significant of the improvements came with his weight. Rather than ballooning up between fights and “eating s—,” he’s slimmed down and ate better to help assure an easy weight cut. He’s always had knockout power, but recently, he’s worked on his ground game, which will come in handy against Okami, whose wrestling can grind and wear down opponents. Belcher’s also been able to heal a fractured spine he experienced earlier in the year and enters the fight at close to full health.

So unlike that first matchup with Okami, Belcher knows he’s as prepared as he can possibly be. And with a win over Okami, he knows title-eliminators and even a long-awaited title shot could come in 2013.

“The last few years, I haven’t been consistently fighting the top guys,” he said. “I’m not looking for any shortcut (to a title shot). I know there are more tough guys in the division. I just need to keep fighting and be more consistent.

“Time goes by, and people forget (about your title worthiness). … But I’m happy. I’m in a good place because I’ve beaten a lot of people in the division. There are only a couple people that are at the top that I can fight. I know there aren’t many people (after Okami), so there’s not much left, and then it’ll be legit and a more clear picture.”

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